Houston, we have some hero material

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the return to Earth of Apollo 13. Everyone remembers the brave astronauts on board, but many have forgotten that, if not for the creative talent and energy of a group of engineers back in Houston who saved them with, literally, duct tape and garbage bags, they never would have made it home alive. Now those engineers are at last being honored.

The engineers' work to save astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert is to be recognized Tuesday by a company that runs an engineering search engine. Engineers, astronauts and flight controllers are expected for the ceremony at the space center.

"It was actually a fair bit of very, very quick engineering work that they had to radio up," said John Schneiter, president of GlobalSpec, the New York-based company planning to honor the engineers. "They had to make it right the first time. ... It had to work and son of a gun, it did."

Gene Kranz was the leader of Mission Control back then, and for decades to come afterward. I very much enjoyed and highly reccomend his book, Failure is Not an Option. It gives a real insider perspective into the nightmarish engineering disasters they have had to muddle through just to keep the space program alive. If you get the chance, give it a read. And take a moment today to think about the geeks with the pocket protectors and slide rules who did some very heroic work without ever really getting the glory and credit that the space jockeys received.